Note: The New England books describe him as "a German physician of some celebrity who settled on Lloyd's Neck, L. I., and came to Rhode Island when Col. Nichols reduced N. Y. in 1664." This is probably derived from the authority of his great-great grandson Wilkins Updike of R. I., but we have doubts about Gysbert ever having been a physician. However, there is truth in other portions of this tradition, and there may be in all. Perhaps a confusion has arisen from the title "Doctor," which in German is a degree of learning and not of medicine. Gysbert may have been graduated with the German degree of Doctor from the Wesel Academy, then famous in Europe. He was well educated; his associations, official positions, reports, even his signature, show this. He must have spoken German from his birth, Dutch from his emigration, and English from his marriage. 2 3

Occupation: brewer 6 NOV 1656 New Amsterdam, , NY

Note: 1656, Nov. 6. Gysbert Opdyck appears in Court requesting permission to sell wine and beer by the small measure, as he has hired the house next the City Hall and is occasionally asked to lodge strangers and to sell them wine and beer. Petition granted ....... (Burgomaster & Schepens, II, 645.) 3

PROP: the patent BET 24 MAY 1644 AND 20 Coney Island, Kings Co, NY

Note: 1644. May 24, Patent for Coney Island. "We Willem Kieft, Director General and Council of N. Y. etc. herewith testify and declare, that today, date underwritten, we have given and granted to Gysbert op Dyck, the whole Coney Island, situate on the east side of the bay running into the North river, with the valleys thereto belonging; on condition that in case it should be deemed necessary or advisable the Company reserves the right to establish fisheries upon the said Coney Island where most suitable; also a piece of land situate near Coney Hook stretching N. E. from Coney Hook, it lies with its S. E. point to or near the seashore and on its west side a kill comes in on the east side of Coney Hook, from this kill E. forty-nine rods, E. by S. two hundred and forty rods, S. S. W. half point W. one hundred and thirty rods, W. a little N. two hundred and twenty-five rods, N. by W. to the place of beginning one hundred rods, containing together forty-three morgens five hundred and fifty-one-rods; with the express condition and stipulation etc., etc.". . . . . (Dutch MSS. Land Papers, G. G. 95.)

The piece of land granted in the latter part of the above patent was afterward called "Gysbert's Island ". . . .(Doc. Col. Hist. XIV, 57, note.)

1661, Aug. 25. Gysbert op Dyck petitions the Director and Council, as "an old servant of the Company but now out of the service," for permission to sell his "Gysbert's Island, which the petitioner could not occupy without danger from the Indians on account of its distants. The inhabitants of Gravesend have hitherto used the said island as pastureland for their calves and are still using it so to-day," etc. (Dutch MSS., IX, 739.)

1661, Oct. 20. Conveyance from Gysbert op Dyck by virtue of his patent "for Coney Island with the meadows and a parcel of land on Coney Hook," as exhibited before the Council. Gysbert's grantee was Dirck de Wolff, merchant at Amsterdam. 3

Residence: BET 1638 AND 1664 New Amsterdam, , NY

Note: Remained among the Dutch in New Netherland until the English capture in 1664. During a great part of these thirty years, was an officer of the Dutch West India Company;------Commander of Fort Hope, Commissary, one of the Eight Men, Marshal, Tithe-Commissioner, frequently sat in the Council, and assisted in making Indian treaties. Owned a residence on Stone Street, N. Y., the whole of Coney Island (part of which bore his name), a farm at Hempstead and another at Cow Neck, Long Island.

1639. "The Dutch, however, continued in possession of the flat lands around the Hope,' where Gysbert op Dyck was now commissary with a garrison of fourteen or fifteen soldiers. At their first coming, the English conducted themselves discreetly; but increasing in numbers, they boldly began to plow up the reserved lands around the Dutch redoubt. Op Dyck endeavored to resist; but the English cudgeled some of the garrison who attempted to stop their proceedings; and Haynes, the newly-elected governor of Connecticut, justified his countrymen. The Dutch, he said, had been many years in possession, and had done nothing to improve the land, which. 'was lying idle' around their house. It would be a sin to leave uncultivated so valuable a land, which could produce such excellent, Thus the Hartford people vindicated their conduct. They 'gave out that they were Israelites, and that the Dutch in New Netherland, and the English in Virginia, were Egyptians.' " 3

(Note: The above epeisode took place near Hartford, CT. hmf)

Residence: ABT 1666 Narragansett, Washington Co., RI

Note: The tradition is doubtless correct that he went with his children to Narragansett, after the death of Richard Smith, Sr in 1666, to take possession of the lands about Wickford bequeathed to the children of Gysbert's deceased wife Catharine. Gsybert's eldest son Lodowyck appears upon the Kingstown records at Wickford, R. I., as early as 1668, and others of his children later; the place was then thinly settled, and its scant records have been almost totally destroyed by fire. 3

Event: Misc

Note: His Rhode Island descendants, associating with only English-speaking people, wrote their name Updick, and finally Updike; and they wrote Gysbert in its English form, Gilbert. 3

At the age of 38 years he won the heart of the young English maiden, and the marriage met the approval of her father Richard Smith, a man of standing and wealth and so scrupulous that he once refused his consent to the marriage of another daughter to an Englishman who later became Sheriff of Flushing.

Note: According to John O. Austin's "Genealogical Dictionary of RI", Gilbert Updike was a physician and arrived in America in 1635, where he first settled at Lloyd's Neck, NY and then at Kingstown, Rhode Island. It is doubtful he was a physician - more likely that he had carried the title "Doctor" and this was confused with the German connotation, which means a degree in learning, not medicine.

Gilbert's original name was Gysbert Op Dyck in the old country, being changed only upon his stay in America. In 1641 he returned to Germany for a year. He was an officer in the Dutch West India Company and on 24 May 1644 he was granted a patent for Coney Island. He then went to Rhode Island, after the English took over New York from the Dutch. A treaty of peace with the Mohican and Hackensack Indians was signed by Gilbert Updike, along with others, on 30 August 1645. 1 2

Note: A Gysbert op Dyck was the commander of a Dutch fort in Hartford when Peter Stuyvesant came for a meeting with New England leaders in 1650. The Dutch had settled in Hartford in 1623. 2

Event: Move Bet 1664 and 1668 Wickford, RI

Note: Gilbert moved to Wickford, RI between 1664 and 1668. Note that Catherine's death is 1664. 1

Change Date: 22 Jul 2005 at 15:15

Father: Lodowick OP DEN DYCK b: Abt 1565

Mother: Gertrude VAN WESEK

Marriage 1 Catherine SMITH

Married: 24 Sep 1643 in New Amsterdam, NY 1

Change Date: 2 Nov 2004

Children

1. Has Children Elizabeth UPDIKE c: 27 Jul 1644 in New Amsterdam, NY

2. Has No Children Lodowick UPDIKE c: 10 Jun 1646 in New Amsterdam, NY

3. Has No Children Richard UPDIKE

4. Has No Children Sarah UPDIKE b: 23 Oct 1650 in New Amsterdam, NY

5. Has No Children Johannes (John) UPDIKE c: 16 Jan 1658

6. Has No Children Jacob (James) UPDIKE c: 16 Jan 1658

7. Has No Children Daniel UPDIKE

Sources:

1. Abbrev: Lockhart Genealogy

Title: Genealogical Notes on the families Noble and Waite Early Settlers of Nashua, Iowa

Author: Jane Lockhart

Publication: Compiled by Jane Lockhart, 1980 and obtained from the Nashua, Iowa Library. This text also includes The Scott Family and the children of Henry Scott, The Wait Family and the children of Gardner Wait and The Genealogy of Willett Wait and his descendants.

2. Abbrev: Shorto

Title: The Island at the center of the World: the epic story of Dutch Manhattan and the forgotten colony that shaped America

Author: Russell Shorto

Publication: Published by Doubleday, a division of Random House. Published March, 2004.

I love to see how families intertwine themselves together! This is an on going project. I'm always looking for new information and updating as necessary. If you see any errors please contact me as I want this to be as accurate as possible for my children. I also want to thank everyone for the information I have obtained to track down my ancestors!!!

Baptized in Willibrord's Church, Wesel, Germany, Sept. 25, 1605,. by his parents Lodowigh op den Dyck and Gertrudt van Wesek. Came before 1638, to New Amsterdam (New York); there married Catherine Smith, Sept. 24, 1643. Remained among the Dutch in New Netherland until the English capture in 1664. During a great part of these thirty years, was an officer of the Dutch West India Company;------Commander of Fort Hope, Commissary, one of the Eight Men, Marshal, Tithe-Commissioner, frequently sat in the Council, and assisted in making Indian treaties. Owned a residence on Stone Street, N. Y., the whole of Coney Island (part of which bore his name), a farm at Hempstead and another at Cow Neck, Long Island.

Gysbert signed his name op d Dyck in his two autograph signatures which have come down to us, Jan. 25, 1644, and Aug. 19, 1649; the same form of signature to his deposition on the Hempstead records at Roslyn, April 3, 1659, is probably also in his own hand. This is the very form in which his his father's name was written at the baptism of Gysbert in Wesel. The Pastor at Wesel informs us that this d always stood for den, thus the op den Dyck which Gysbert's ancestors had been called in Wesel since 1283, and probably earlier. The Dutch Church records in New call him often op ten Dyck, which also was a frequent format The Dutch documents and official records spell his name as op Dycj, or more frequently Opdyck; the latter form has been followed by the translators and the historians, and it will be followed by us as it was doubtless the name by which Gysbert was generally known among the Dutch here. His Rhode Island descendants, associating with only English-speaking people,

wrote their name Updick, and finally Updike; and they wrote Gysbert in its English form, Gilbert.

The New England books describe him as "a German physician of some celebrity who settled on Lloyd's Neck, L. I., and came to Rhode Island when Col. Nichols reduced N. Y. in 1664." This is probably derived from the authority of his great-great grandson Wilkins Updike of R. I., but we have doubts about Gysbert ever having been a physician. However, there is truth in other portions of this tradition, and there may be in all. Perhaps a confusion has arisen from the title "Doctor," which in German is a degree of learning and not of medicine. Gysbert may have been graduated with the German degree of Doctor from the Wesel Academy, then famous in Europe. He was well educated; his associations, official positions, reports, even his signature, show this. He must have spoken German from his birth, Dutch from his emigration, and English from his marriage.

He is often called Mr., and Sieur, on the Dutch records, titles of unusual respect in those days. He was a friend of Gov. Kieft, Secretary van Tienhoven, Fiscal de la Montagne, and Burgomaster Cregier, all of whom officiated as sponsors at the baptisms of his children; and he himself was in demand as sponsor for baptisms of the children of others. Gysbert must have been attractive to both young and old. At the age of 38 years he won the heart of the young English maiden, and the marriage met the approval of her father Richard Smith, a man of standing and wealth and so scrupulous that he once refused his consent to the marriage of another daughter to an Englishman who later became Sheriff of Flushing. At a time when Director Kieft and the citizens of New Amsterdam were in bitter conflict, Gysbert, although an official and friend of Kieft, had the entire confidence of the people. His repeated appointment as Commander of Fort Hope, and the incident at the Stadt Huys, show that he was a man of known courage, yet wise and prudent. In all the many difficulties and trying situations of the early Dutch settlement, he bore himself creditably.

At Hartford Gysbert had often to argue the Dutch rights to the country. Their claim dated from 1609, when Amsterdam merchants sent Henry Hudson in the "Half Moon" with twenty Dutch and English sailors to find a shorter passage to China. He found no short cut to China, but he discovered and anchored in the Delaware River, and then discovered the Hudson River and sailed up it to what is now Albany, landing frequently among the Indians. The Dutch were then an independent nation and their right to claim possession was indisputable, as the territory thus explored was unoccupied by any Christian prince or people. Thereupon Dutch merchants sent many vessels to trade in furs with the Indians, ascending rivers and creeks. The Dutch mariners May and Block were the first to explore Delaware Bay and Long Island Sound; Cape May and

Block Island still bear their names. Rhode Island is the Dutch "Roods"

GYSBERT11 OP DEN DYCK (Lodowick10, Gysbert9, Lodowick8, Gysbert7, Johan6, Johan5, Deric4, Henric3, Herman2, Henric1), son of (10) Lodowick10 and Gertrude (VAN WESEK) OP DEN DYCK, was christened on 25 Sept. 1605 in St. Willibrod[5, 17], and died between 1664 and 1715[8]. He married in New Amsterdam, on 24 Sept. 1643, (AIR-9) CATHERINE SMITH[6, 17], daughter of (AIR-4) Richard and Elizabeth SMITH, who was born about 1620 in Exeter, and died about 1664[7]. [3, 17, 21]

Child:

+ 12 i. ELIZABETH12 UPDIKE, bp. on 27 July 1644 in New Amsterdam; d. between 1712 and 1716 in Kingstowne, Washington Co.; m. about 1663 prob. Kingstowne (API-18) GEORGE WIGHTMAN, b. in England, United Kingdom on 4 Nov. 1632[2], d. in Kingstowne in Jan. 1721/2[2], son of (API-13) John WIGHTMAN.

Sieur was from an ancient Westphalian family. He was baptized 9/25/1605 in Wesel-on-the-Rhine, Holland? He came to America in 1630 for the Dutch West India Co. He owned land in Hempstead, long Island, NY; at Cowneck, Long Island, NY and all of Coney Island, NY, which then consisted of three islands. On 4/10/1662 he petitioned the Council of New Amsterdam to be appointed Sheriff of Flushing, Newton and Jamaica (now all parts of the borough of Queens, part of NYC. It appears that in 1664, after surrender of New Amsterdam to the English and after he had disposed of his properties on Long Island and Coney Island, he returned to Rhode Island.